Report On Assessing My Lifestyle And Activities
The focus of this assessment is on our own leisure lifestyle and activities we participate in. The first step was to gain insight into ourselves by doing the MBTI test; next to understand our own leisure lifestyle and finally to think about and interpret our personal purpose. In the following I will as well consider my results of the MBTI test as review the different literature I read about leisure to get an overview about what leisure actually is. At the end I will connect all the information with my own leisure activities and lifestyle to understand why I spent my leisure time the way I do it. The MBTI test is a 16 personalities test, which was created to “[get] a concrete, accurate description of who you are and why you do things the way you do; for free” (APA).
The test helps you to understand yourself better and to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses; to improve your weaknesses and to take advantage of your strengths. You have to answer many questions honestly, each with one of the seven options between completely “agree” and completely “disagree”; the answers should not be “neutral”, because then your result would not be very specific. The test should take you less than 12 minutes; you should not think too long about it. My result of the test was that I have a protagonist personality; the protagonist is one of the diplomats. This personality type is described as a charismatic and inspiring leader, who is able to mesmerize their listeners. The results are categorized; so you can inform yourself about your key traits, romance, friendships, parenthood, career paths, and your workplace habits. In the following I will just consider the key traits and the career paths because these are the ones connected to the school and the study life. At first you get the results of the five traits mind, energy, nature, tactics and identity. It says that I have an extraverted mind (76%), which fits in my opinion; I am open to meet new people and enjoy spending time in a group.
An exemplary situation would be the start of my studies a few weeks ago. I am trying to meet a lot of new people and to get in contact with them, for example by starting a conversation and bringing different people together to get to know each other and to take party in varied group activities. My energy is half intuitive (53%) and half observant (47%); I do not have just one way to see the world and work with new information. I am as well practical and pragmatic as imaginative and curious. Sometimes I focus on facts, for example things that already happened, and sometimes I focus on possibilities and yet unproven opinions. I acknowledge all the facts I already know about the world, but I think there is so much more going on, which is just not experienced yet. The general intuitive trait also says that you are able to reach every mind, it does not matter if it happens through facts or raw emotion; it is so called empathy. I have a more feeling nature (79%) than a thinking one (21%); that is the reason I would agree with having empathy.
Feeling individuals focus more on social harmony and being cooperative in a team than just the efficiency and being competitive. In my opinion you can be most efficient in a group if you feel comfortable and if you support and help each other. My tactics are judging (81%); I work careful and I am very organized. Referring to work I prefer clarity and structure over improvising, but in my free time I also like to be spontaneous sometimes; my basic schedule is planned, but if there is an opportunity to join anything I would enjoy spontaneously, I would always do it; I think that is better than regretting not doing anything afterwards. I also have an assertive identity (76%), which is typical for protagonists. I have an opinion on almost everything and I am confident enough to stand up for the people and the ideas I believe in; no matter if anyone has another opinion and wants to discuss with me about mine or thinks mine is wrong. I am also stress-resistant; I do not force myself to work too hard on a project just to finish it as early as possible; I prefer to work when I am motivated and able to be efficient. Because of the assertiveness and the extraverted mind the protagonist’s strategy is people mastery; they are high stress-resistant and have a maintaining confidence through life’s challenges, social pressure and any questions of their capabilities; they are able to influence other people’s life’s. In general the website says that protagonists are natural-born leaders with passion and charisma, who are reaching out and inspiring others to do good in the world and for others. Gelbrich also mentioned in our interview that she agrees to this, because as we were talking about the structure and organization of our last group work I mostly just took the lead and shared my ideas with them. Because of the natural confidence protagonists find joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community; so they are not afraid to stand up and speak their mind, if something needs to be said.
At this point I have to say, that I am only unafraid to stand up in small groups, it is more difficult for me if there is a bigger audience. Next we will look at the strengths and weaknesses, which are mentioned for the protagonist personality. The personality type is tolerant and reliable; protagonists are real team player, who listen to other people opinion’s and never let anyone down, so you can count on them. These two strengths fit with me pretty well in my opinion, because in my leisure time I dance in an association together with a team. It also says that protagonists are charismatic; they have charm and are popular. They know instinctively how to capture an audience by picking up on their mood and motivation. I would not agree with that completely; I have the mentioned ability to communicate with reason, emotion, passion or restraint – whatever is needed in the respective situation. Another strength is the altruism, with which one I agree.
Altruism is the desire to do good in and for the community; altruistic people are warm and selfless and believe that if they can bring people together, they can do a world of good. Connecting to the altruism, protagonists are also natural leaders; they have a strong personality and a positive vision, which influences their whole community. They often end up in a leading position at the request of others, not on their own. Contrary this personality type is overly idealistic; they would rather feel pity for their opposition than anger, because they are kind of naïve. I would not fully agree with this weakness, because I am also open for discussions and stand up for what I believe in. The weakness that fits the most with my actual personality is the struggle to make tough decisions. Protagonists are always imaging every possible consequence of their actions; it is hard for them to decide which action they should choose. I also disagree with the next point: being too selfless. It means that protagonists can bury themselves in their hopeful promises or feel others problems as their own. I always think about how the situation would end up for me; how any solution would affect me. It is not the main point or reason for any decision, but I do not only think about other people. Another point I disagree a bit with is being too sensitive; taking criticism too much to heart. As a little child I was pretty sensitive and I got easily worried – for example if something did not work out the way I wanted it to; nowadays I have improved this weakness. I would say I still have the sensitivity to others; I can empathize with them easily, but I do not get caught up in their problems too much. The fluctuating self-esteem does not really fit as well; I am not defining my self-esteem by whether I am able to live up to my ideals or not. Typical for the protagonist would be that their self-esteem falls if they fail to meet a goal and that they are asking for criticism out of insecurity (not confidence), which does not fit with me. The weaknesses of the protagonist do not really fit with mine; either I have already improved them or I just have other ones. I think that is a good thing, because if you would like to improve your personality, you have to start with improving your weaknesses and to get control over them. The next paragraph I will consider is the career path for the protagonist’s personality, which almost completely fits me.
There was one sentence I remember the most from the results: “Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition. ” I also mentioned this one in the interview I made with Gelbrich about our personality types and the results. I think it fits very well, because sometimes I listen to the others first and let them talk to observe the situation, maybe that is the reason I am not always recognized directly; but if it is my turn I am worthy of recognition, like Gelbrich said. The main career path would be one to help other people, because of the altruistic, selfless and sensitive traits. They also have a genuine interest in other people, because of their warm sociability and helpful earnestness. People usually like being helped, what would make it easy to find work in this sector. Another possibility would be to pursue an altruistic career; like social and religious work, teaching, counseling and advising of all sorts. The motivation would be to help others learn, grow and become more independent.
To be honest, I am not that altruistic; you can see my altruistic trait more in other situations, like for example in friendships. Because of the helping attitude, social skills, emotional intelligence and the tendency to be “that person that everybody knows” protagonists would also be natural HR administrators, event coordinators or politicians; motivated by helping a community or organization to operate more smoothly. These are kind of the jobs I thought about before I started my study ‘Leisure and Event management’. Protagonists can express themselves creatively and honestly, which is important to become for example an event manager. They can also intuitively pick up on the needs and wants of their costumers and work to make them happier.
All in all protagonists need a career where they can focus on people and help them to be happy. If a protagonist would for example pursue a career in the law enforcement, military service or emergency response, they would burn out quickly; they need to see the final product and experience the gratitude and appreciation of the people they have helped. That is what makes them happy. To work with a protagonist must be easy and effective; they are quick learners and excellent multitaskers; as Gelbrich also mentioned during our interview I am hardworking, reliable and eager to help.
Some of my groupmates also told me that I have the ability to take on multiple responsibilities with competence and good cheer (Hani: “You are cheering up the room the time you enter it”); it is pleasant and interesting to receive good and helpful feedback, because sometimes you just do not know things like this. Protagonists have a desire to assist and cooperate; they would like to work in a team, in which everyone feels comfortable to share their opinions and ideas. If a protagonist combines their skill in recognizing individual motivations with their natural charisma, they can push teams and projects forward and even make them want to push forward; they would be true-called managers. In general they always want to get done what they planned or need to get done; to successfully work their to-do-list off is the end goal.
